


Feelings

by pinheaded



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Animated Series, DCU (Comics)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Harley x Ivy, Love, Romance, harlivy - Freeform, hivy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-18 03:08:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10608030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinheaded/pseuds/pinheaded
Summary: Ivy really likes Harley, and she doesn't quite know what to do about it.





	

“Are you even _watchin’_ , Red?” 

“Hm? Of course I’m watching.” Ivy gave her a small nod and a smile to seal the deal, but Harley had already turned her attention back to _the Spongebob Squarepants Movie._ It was a lie: she wasn’t watching, not even a little bit, but that was besides the point. What mattered was that Harley believed her and didn’t question her about it. 

It was going on four months since she’d first met Harley, and Ivy still hadn’t addressed her… _problem_. A month into living with her, Ivy started noticing her body doing things it hadn’t done in a long time. It was hard to breathe when she was next to Harley. Her heart always went skidding off into some impromptu tap number whenever they touched. She found herself wishing they were touching whenever they weren’t. She thought about her before she went to bed at night, her favorite daydream. Harley felt different than anyone she’d ever met before: charged up, brighter, glimmering with three lifetimes’ worth of light packed inside of her skin. Ivy wanted…actually, Ivy didn’t _know_ what she wanted. That was a part of the problem. She thought she probably wanted to kiss her, but she pushed that away. Harley wasn’t for her, not in that way. She didn’t need a Ph.D to know that.

“Alright, you are definitely not watchin’.” 

Ivy glanced up at the television and realized that the movie was paused. 

Harley looked almost comical, the dramatic arch of her eyebrows and the cheeky curve of her lips reminding Ivy of something straight out of a 90s sitcom. 

“Fine, you caught me. I wasn’t watching.” 

“But how could ya’ not be watchin’, Red? Spongebob is your favorite!” 

“Spongebob is _your_ favorite, Harl. Not mine.” Ivy bit the inside of her cheek to make sure her smile wasn’t too wide. 

“Uh, false. Everything that’s my favorite is also your favorite, too, and that’s a fact,” Harley said. 

“Source?” 

“You mean, like, how I know that?” 

“‘Source’ as in where you got that information, yes.” 

Harley scrunched her eyebrows together, deep in thought. “I read it in the eucalyptus.” 

“You mean the encyclopedia?” Ivy laughed into her hand, an unnaturally high pitched, girly giggle she only did when she was around Harley. 

“Oh, whatever. Enough with the distractin’, missy. What’s going on with you?” 

Ivy considered that for a moment. “I’ve been…thinking a lot, I guess.” 

“‘Bout what? Gimme the 411.” 

“You’re such a weirdo,” Ivy said, laughing again before she could catch herself. God, she hated being like this. It was like she was sixteen again, laughing over things that she had no real reason to laugh over and hoping that the girl across from her thought she was pretty. Poison Ivy was never one to make a fool of herself, and yet here she was, Poison _fucking_ Ivy, making a fool of herself. 

“Here.” Harley leaned over, carefully removed Ivy’s glasses from her face, and put them on her own. “‘Harley Quinn’ is no more. I’m Harleen Quinzel. _Charmed,_ I’m sure.” She reached out a hand to Ivy who didn’t quite know what to do with it. 

“This isn’t helping,” Ivy said, still looking questioningly at the hand. It was extended to her like grapes to an oligarch. Her cheeks colored and she realized that she _really_ liked Harley. 

“Pst! Earth to Ivy! Shake Dr. Quinzel’s hand!” Harley was lowering her voice and speaking from the side of her mouth like a ventriloquist for dramatic effect. When Ivy still didn’t take her hand, she let out an exaggerated sigh and set it back down on her lap. Harley had always loved theatrics. 

“Well, _Dr. Quinzel,_ ” -Harley nodded at her encouragingly- “I have some feelings that I’m not really sure what to do with.” 

“Hm, yes. Feelings. Interesting.” Harley pretended to take notes on her thigh with her index finger. “Fascinating, feelings are. Can you tell me about these feelings, Pam?” 

Ivy grimaced at the sound of her birth name, but let it slide off her shoulders like water on a raincoat. “I don’t know if I should do anything about them.” 

Harley looked up from her imaginary notepad. “You should _absolutely_ do something about them! I think it would be really good for you to be congruent with what you’re feeling, Pam. I get the sense that you push down your emotions and keep them to yourself most of the time. It’s essential that one expresses one’s feelings in order to form authentic connections with others. It’s hard, but it’s the only way.” 

“I…” Ivy wiggled her leg and tried to suppress the blush she felt coming up her neck. She couldn’t express her feelings…could she?

“So what is it you’re feeling, Pam? Anger? Sadness? Anxiety? It’s all very normal, I promise.” 

“Well, actually, my feelings aren’t for _myself_ , they’re…for someone else. I have feelings for someone else, so… love I guess?” 

Harley’s face closed over. “Oh.” 

“Oh…?” Ivy searched Harley’s face for clues, but she couldn’t get a read. 

“Look, don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe you shouldn’t express _those_ feelings.” 

“Wait, what? Didn’t you just say that I should express my feelings?” 

Harley was turned towards her, her imaginary notebook now completely out of a job. “I didn’t know you were talking about having feelings for someone else. Those are…well, you could, you know, get really hurt.” 

“You don’t think I’m stable enough to handle rejection?” 

“No! No, I just… what if he turns out to be a bad guy? I don’t want you getting hurt, ya’ know?” Harley was slipping back into herself again: the game was over. 

“When do you think I’ll be ready to risk getting hurt?” 

“It’s not that you’re not ready. It’s just… whoever this guy is, does he even know you? Like, really know you?” Harley was staring at her, shoulders tense and hands gripping the couch cushion beneath her. Her eyes were cloudy in a way that Ivy couldn’t make sense of, like looking at the sky without reading the weather report. 

“This person knows me very well, better than anyone.” 

“Again, false. _I_ know ya’ better than anyone else. I got that from the encyclope-di-a. And also, I’m the psychiatrist here, and I say we work on things a lil’ more before ya’ make any moves. Doctor’s orders.” 

“Okay, Dr. Quinzel. Whatever you think is best.” Ivy tried to keep her voice light. 

“Not forever, obviously. Just…for a bit, to make sure that this guy is really the one ya’ want.” Harley smiled at her and rested her head on Ivy’s shoulder. Almost instantly, Ivy felt the weight in her chest dissipate into something bubbly. She really liked Harley. 

  


They didn’t talk about it again until the next night. Ivy was doing laundry and Harley was.. _.stretching_ or doing whatever it was that Harley did when Ivy was doing something else.

“So,” Harley said, her legs over her head in some impossible position on the bed, “who _is_ this guy, anyway?” 

“What guy?” 

“The one you _like_.” 

Ivy laughed out loud. “First of all, I never said it was a guy. Secondly, I thought you said I shouldn’t talk about it.” 

“No, I said you shouldn’t talk about it to _him_.” Harley rolled her eyes and kicked her legs back so that she was sprawled across the bed. “You should definitely talk to me about it.” 

“And why should I talk to you about it?” Ivy kept her tone playful like this was the game Harley thought it was.

Harley was openmouthed. “Because I’m your best friend! Best friends talk to each other about things like this, Red.” 

Ivy sighed. This was getting tiring. “Okay, fine. This…this _person_ ,” -Ivy emphasized person, hoping Harley would take the hint- “can always make me laugh. They’re the silliest person I’ve ever met.” Just saying it out loud put a smile on her face. 

“I thought you said that _I_ was the silliest person you ever met.” Harley shifted on the bed, like the mattress was hurting her.

Oh God. Her fucking mouth, always open one sentence too long. “I don’t really want to talk about this anymore.” 

Harley turned her head away, but Ivy saw the hurt flash across her face. “Okay.” 

She put down the shirt she was folding and sat down next to Harley, running a hand up and down her back. “I’m sorry, Harl. I didn’t mean to snap at you.” 

“It’s okay,” Harley said, rolling over so that her head was touching Ivy’s knee. 

“And just to set the record straight,” Ivy tucked a cowlick behind Harley’s ear, “you _are_ the silliest person I’ve ever met.” 

Harley’s eyes widened and filled with a pure, childlike pride that made Ivy’s heart swell. “Really?” 

“Really.” Ivy smiled. She _really_ liked Harley. 

  


“So what makes this guy so special?” They were playing cards on the living room floor, a game Harley called Jelly. 

“I don’t know, Harl. Why do you keep bringing this up?”

“Just wonderin’,” Harley said, and there was a wry laugh in her voice, like the joke was on her. 

Ivy took a breath and set her cards aside. “Well, the thing is, Harl, this ‘guy’ isn’t a guy, she’s a girl. And this girl, well, every time I’m around her, things just snap into focus. Everything is just so _bright_ and _sharp_ when I’m around her. I like things better that way. She makes things better.” 

“Sounds like you’re idealizin’, Red.” Harley was looking down at the cards in her hand.

Ivy wouldn’t have it. “Jesus!” her hands flew up, frustrated. “Why do you have to shoot down everything I say about her? You don’t even know who I’m talking about!” 

Harley’s eyebrows pulled together and she set down her cards. “‘Cause I doubt that she, whoever _she_ is, is good enough for you. I just don’t want ya’ gettin’ in a relationship with the wrong person. That’s all.” 

“How do you know she’s not good enough for me?” 

“‘Cause most people aren’t.” Harley was looking at her, very close and very intent.

Ivy brought her attention back down to her cards, but she wasn’t really seeing them. Her face felt like she had gotten too close to a bonfire, and her thoughts were too jumbled to focus. 

“Harley, I wish you would just drop this.” 

“It’s true, Red. They’re not. You’re a one-off. You’re special. Ya’ know that?” Harley said, like she was really asking, like she really needed to know. 

Ivy wanted to say nothing at all. Her heart shook in her chest, sending waves out to her blood that made the air feel fizzy against her skin. She could hear the cards bending under Harley’s knees as she crawled towards her. She knew then, like the knowledge had been dropped into her lap, that Harley was going to kiss her. 

Harley froze in front of her. She was so close that Ivy could see the soft skin at the base of her throat lifting with each quick heartbeat. Her breath was wobbly, and it felt warm on Ivy’s chin. 

“It’s you, Harley,” Ivy whispered. “You make the world beautiful to me.” 

Harley kissed her then, gently, like she thought if she pressed too hard, Ivy might disappear. After a few seconds, she pulled away, visibly still reeling. 

“Well, _gee_ , if I’d a’ known it was me before, I woulda’ told ya’ to express your feelings as soon as possible.” 

“How could it be anyone but you?” 

Harley laughed, an amazed little breath. “You make the world beautiful to me, too.” 

And they kissed again. And again. And again. And again

Ivy _really_ liked Harley, and Harley _really_ liked Ivy, too.


End file.
